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Report: Four alleged separatists killed in Kyrgyzstan

By the CNN Wire Staff

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Group planned to attack markets and stores, minister says

One of the four is said to have killed himself with explosives

Three separatists were detained

(CNN) -- Four alleged separatists were killed in a "special operation" Monday in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan, according to a report from the Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs, carried by news agency 24.kg.

One of the four separatists killed himself with explosives, the report said, and three other "triggermen" were shot and killed by Kyrgyz security forces. Some media reports indicated that at least one security officer was wounded in the operation.

Three other separatists were detained, the report said.

Minister of Internal Affairs Zarylbek Rysaliev said that the operation thwarted a series of attacks planned by the alleged separatists, according to 24.kg, and that the group had no ties to international terrorists.

"This group is purely nationalist-separatist," Rysaliev said. "These people were planning to commit terrorist attacks in Bishkek, Osh and other towns in the south of the country. The goal: destabilization of the socio-political situation. They planned to attack stores and markets."

Kyrgyz security forces arrested nine alleged members of the separatist Islamic Movement of Turkestan on November 22, but it was not immediately clear whether the militants targeted in Monday's operation were part of the same group.

Instability in Kyrgyzstan followed an uprising that toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April. Riots in June spurred ethnic violence that left nearly 400 minority Uzbeks dead.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is traveling to the region this week for a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to be held in Kazakhstan. She is expected in Kyrgyzstan by Friday, when she is to meet with President Roza Otunbayeva.